The Calm Before the Storm
by chaserzachsmith
Summary: The Ministry has fallen. Scrimgeour is dead. They are coming.


When Ginny learns that Scrimgeour is dead she is dancing with Luna. Luna's face is pink with happiness, and with her hair and the bright yellow robes, she is brilliant to look at. Right then she is trying to teach Ginny how to do what she calls a Humdinger Mating Dance. There is a lot of arm waving and Ginny knows they both look ridiculous. She doesn't care.

And then there's gasps and the band stops and she and Luna turn, Ginny grabbing Luna's arm instinctively. " _The Ministry has fallen. Scrimgeour is dead. They are coming_."

It's pandemonium, naturally. Weasleys aren't known for keeping calm and collected under pressure. Luna hugs Ginny and says, all in one breath, "Be safe! I'm going to find Daddy."

Then Luna is gone, the joyful yellow robes swept up in the panic until Ginny can't see her anymore. Ginny feels hysteria rising in her throat but she tamps it down firmly and spins around, trying to spot one of her brothers. She pushes past three of her dad's Ministry friends towards George.

"What do we do?" she asks, and he looks around and down at her.

"We wave off our guests," he says, and he smiles humourlessly. "And then we wait for everything to fall apart."

* * *

When Neville learns that Scrimgeour is dead he is is eating breakfast in the nook alone and his Gran comes in. Usually he sleeps in too late to eat with her, so his first impulse is to check the time to see if he's miraculously early today.

He isn't, and then he looks back up at her and realises too late that she is solemn and sad. "What's happened?" he asks, frowning.

She sits across from him and folds her shaking hands on the table. "Rufus Scrimgeour is dead," she says.

Neville needs a moment to place the name. "The Minister? Then who's going to-"

"A puppet," says Gran darkly. "Neville, Rufus Scrimgeour was murdered. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has taken the Ministry."

Neville finally thinks to put his fork down and stares at the table, between their hands. He knew next to nothing about Scrimgeour, but he's suddenly mournful for the man. Or, if not for the man, for the Ministry and for whatever is coming next.

* * *

When Luna learns that Scrimgeour is dead she is wearing yellow, for good luck, at Bill Weasley's wedding. The news comes in the form of a Patronus, a representation of happiness, and Luna wants to take a moment to appreciate the irony of it all.

But there's no time for that, and the wedding is in uproar around her. She squeezes Ginny tight around the waist and tells her to be safe, then she runs to find her father.

He is wearing bright yellow like her, for the same reason, but there is so much happening that Luna can't pick him out in the rush. She makes her way to the corner of the tent and finds a chair to stand on. Her father makes his way to her before she spots him in the crowd and they Apparate out of the party.

Her mother used to say it was easier to think when you were further from the ground, so Luna climbs to the top of the house and sits on the roof, leaning against the chimney.

"Scrimgeour is dead," she says, like she's testing to see how the idea tastes. It's sour.

"There's going to be a fight," she says, and that's a sour idea too.

* * *

When Hannah learns that Scrimgeour is dead she is in the kitchen with her father. She opens the Daily Prophet- her father hasn't looked at one in ages but she is so desperate to know what's happening outside- and spreads the paper on the table.

"Dad," she says. "The minister is dead."

He looks at the paper, and says, in a soft voice, "Blimey, he is."

Hannah reads on, tracing the words with her finger, frowning deeper and deeper and deeper. Her father gets up after a couple of paragraphs and leaves.

* * *

When Anthony learns that Scrimgeour is dead, his grandparents are visiting and he is trapped in the sitting room while they talk over each other and discuss his future. He is glad for the diversion when his father comes in.

"Scrimgeour was killed," says his father, and his grandmother puts her hand over her heart.

"Oh," says Anthony's grandfather, and he turns and puts his arm around his wife.

Anthony slouches back into the sofa and watches as his grandfather begins to weep.

* * *

When Seamus finds out Scrimgeour is dead, he is on the phone with Dean. "Yeah, you wanna-"

His mother comes over and nudges him, motions that she needs to talk to him. "Hang on." He covers the receiver and swivels a little. "What?"

"You-Know-Who," says his mother, and he's seized with terror.

"What'd he-"

"He has the Ministry," she says, and Seamus is so suddenly stricken with fear that he forgets the receiver in his hand, ignores Dean's tinny voice repeating his name.

* * *

When Susan finds out Scrimgeour is dead she is still half asleep.

"What?" she says blearily.

"Scrimgeour is dead," says her mother. "The Ministry is compromised and we have to go _now_."

Susan can't wrap her head around anything her mother just said. She shakes her head. But she gets up.

* * *

When Colin finds out Scrimgeour is dead he is watching TV and Dennis says, suddenly, "What's a coop da-tat?"

"Coup d'etat," corrects Colin. "Why?"

"Jimmy Peakes says there was one," says Dennis, and Colin frowns and gets up, goes over to where Dennis is reading his mail.

"What exactly does it say?"

* * *

When Lavender finds out Scrimgeour is dead she is listening to the radio. Her mother turns the volume down to tell her.

"What do you think it means?" Lavender says.

"I'll tell you what it means," says her mother. "It means the Ministry's gone to hell and the rest of us are going to follow."

* * *

When Lee learns Scrimgeour is dead he is hanging out with George waiting for Fred to come back from the bathroom. He could leave- he's not a Weasley and he's got his brother and mother at home and he's got other things to do today- but he stays instead, sits on the floor of the tent surrounded by tables turned on their sides and broken glass from everyone who'd fled the wedding.

Ginny has her knees drawn to her chest, and Fred puts a comforting hand on her shoulder. There are Death Eaters here, barking questions at Arthur and Molly about Harry and Hermione. The rest of them are sitting cowed and quiet. Even Lee, who's not even a Weasley.

He and George exchange a grim, scared look.

* * *

When Ernie learns Scrimgeour is dead he is about to visit Hannah. The owl with the Daily Prophet swoops down and perches on his arm as he's leaving his house.

He pays the bird and unrolls the paper and reads the headline- Pius Thicknesse Replaces Scrimgeour as Minister of Magic.

"Oh," he says aloud. "Oh, shit."

* * *

When Terry learns Scrimgeour is dead, he is fighting with his father. He's on a strict curfew because of the various anti-Muggleborn sentiments and because his parents are very unpopular. He's broken it perhaps more times than he should.

"It's not a big _deal,_ " Terry is saying. "Nobody's going to out and murder some seventeen year old for no reason."

"Did they have a reason to kill Cedric Diggory?" his father says, his voice rising a little. "Did they have a reason to-"

"Orpheus," interrupts Terry's mother. "Orpheus, look at the paper."

Terry, even though he's still fuming, walks over with his father to read it.

* * *

When Parvati learns Scrimgeour is dead, it is a day too late. The Daily Prophet says that Scrimgeour suffered sudden heart failure. He was an old Auror- old Aurors are susceptible to these things. There is a call for better healthcare in the editorial.

Parvati Floos Lavender, who says that Scrimgeour must have been murdered. "You-Know-Who did it," she says. "He has control over the Ministry now."

Parvati wouldn't admit it but that's a terrifying thought.

* * *

When Justin learns Scrimgeour is dead, he has to first be reminded who Scrimgeour is. He can remember the names of the British Parliament members who his father supports, he can remember the names of the last five Prime Ministers, but _Scrimgeour_ throws him for a loop.

"I waited for Susan at the door," Hannah is saying. "I tried to Floo in. But it's like she's disappeared."

"What does mean?" Justin says. "Where would she go?"

"The Ministry got overthrown," says Ernie. "It happened like this the first time You-Know-Who was in power, too- people started disappearing."

"Oh," says Justin, and he is afraid to say anything else. Afraid to acknowledge his own understanding.

* * *

When Padma learns Scrimgeour is dead, it is late afternoon and she and Parvati are washing the dishes.

"What do you think will happen to us?" Parvati asks, handing Padma a plate.

Padma dries it off and holds onto it for a moment longer than necessary. "To us, or to everyone?" she says.

"To us," says Parvati.

"We'll go back to Hogwarts," says Padma. "We'll be safe there."

* * *

When Dean learns Scrimgeour is dead, he is on the phone, saying _Seamus? Seamus? Seamus? Seamus? Seamus?_ and just beginning to worry.

"Sorry," says Seamus, a little distracted.

"Where'd you go?" Dean asks. "Was it your mum?"

There's a pause, and then Seamus says, "Dean, the Minister just died. My mam says it means You-Know-Who got control over the Ministry."

Dean can't think what to say. "Well," he tries. "Fuck."

* * *

When Michael learns Scrimgeour is dead he is in the kitchen. He had stubbed his toe on the doorframe and is in a sour mood now, and his mother passes him the Prophet without a word.

"The Ministry's about to be a dictatorship," he predicts when he's halfway through the article.

His father snorts. "Stay out of politics, Michael. It's a mess and we don't need this family dragged in."

Michael nods absently, frowning down at the paper. "This is bad," he says.

His father repeats himself, sharper this time. "Stay out of politics."

* * *

When Cho learns Scrimgeour is dead she is at her tiny table in her tiny flat with a mug of coffee. She rereads the article, then rereads it again, and tries to make sense of it.

If Scrimgeour is dead then the Ministry has no hope, she thinks, and it's an uncomfortable and scary realisation.

If Scrimgeour is dead, she adds, then You-Know-Who has his way with the entire government. She glances to her old trunk, where she still has a counterfeit coin from Dumbledore's Army, and she wonders if there's anything they can do anymore.

* * *

When Zacharias learns Scrimgeour is dead, he is somewhat apathetic. He had once been hung up on principles, on the idea that there was good in the world and that it was the right thing to do to fight for it.

But a man is dead and a government in shambles, and Zacharias is much less sure if it's the right thing to risk life and limb.

He folds the Prophet over itself, then folds it again, and resolves to pretend he hasn't read it. At least for the rest of the day. At least until he can decide what he wants to risk.

* * *

Scrimgeour is dead, and there is a war coming. Or maybe the war has been coming all along and they're only seeing it now.

Ginny would say she'd seen it from ages off- so would Michael Corner, who has always been a pessimist, and Susan Bones, whose aunt had a keen political sense and whose mother had a fantastic instinct. Most of them would say they'd figured it out at least by the time Dumbledore had been killed, or by the time the Ministry acknowledged Voldemort's return.

Scrimgeour is dead, though, and the Ministry gone to hell with him, and Luna Lovegood writes Neville a long account of the Quibbler's sales from the last week, and her father's attempts to recreate the Lost Diadem.

 _PS. I'm frightened that the world is falling apart and we can't pull it back together_ , she finishes.

Neville writes back, about his grandmother and his garden. _PS_ , he says. _I'm afraid too._


End file.
